Marie Nicolle Les Bois, Plaintiff In Error v. Samuel Bramell, Defendant

• Decision Date: 01 January 1846
• Citation: 4 How. 449,11 L.Ed. 1051,45 U.S. 449
• Parties: MARIE NICOLLE LES BOIS, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. SAMUEL BRAMELL, DEFENDANT
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

45 U.S. 449

4 How. 449

11 L.Ed. 1051

MARIE NICOLLE LES BOIS, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. SAMUEL BRAMELL, DEFENDANT.

January Term, 1846

THIS case was brought up, by writ of error, from the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Missouri.

It was exactly the same, in most of its points, with the case of Mackay and others v. Dillon, reported in a preceding part of this volume. Reference will be made to that case in all the points which are similar.

It was an action of ejectment brought by Les Bois, in the Circuit Court, to recover two hundred and forty-four arpents and fifty perches of land, claimed under a Spanish concession. The defendant, Bramell, claimed title under the acts of Congress of 1812 and 1831, granting a right of common to the town of St. Louis.

The plaintiff's title was as follows.

1. A petition, concession, and survey.

2. Proceedings of the board of commissioners established by the act of Congress passed on the 2d of March, 1805.

3. Proceedings of the board of commissioners established by the acts of July 9th, 1832, and March 2d, 1833.

4. The act of Congress passed on the 4th of July, 1836.

5. A certificate of the surveyor of the public lands, dated September 6, 1838.

These will be taken up in order.

1. A petition, concession, and survey.

The petition was as follows:——

'To Don Charles Dehault Delassus, lieutenant-colonel attached to the stationary regiment of Louisiana, and lieutenant-governor of the upper part of the seme province.

'Marie Nicolle Les Bois has the honor of representing to you, that, having lost her father and mother since her most tender years, in consequence of a well known disaster, which alone would be sufficient to render her situation interesting to all men of feelings, and having had for support since that moment an uncle and aunt, both respectable, who have taken care of her infancy, considering that time in his flight deprives her every day of some one of her protectors; that her brothers and sisters are all married, and loaded with family, and without fortune; that she remains as an isolated being, who cannot expect any assistance of any one whomsoever; and who, without fortune, finds herself under several points of view in a calamitous situation, which appears to her to be worthy to attract the attention of the good heart every body knows you possess. Full of this idea, and convinced of the generosity of the government, which has never ceased to grant favors to the unfortunate, and to be particularly the protector of orphans, she hopes you will be pleased to grant to her the concession of a tract of land situated to the south of this town, and being vacant lands of his Majesty's domain, and which may contain two hundred and thirteen arpents in superficie, more or less; which land shall be bounded as follows: to the north, south, and west, by the vacant lands of the domain, and to the east by a concession of some width belonging to Mr. Antonio Soulard.

'Such is the statement of my misfortune and pretensions, and I presume to hope this favor of the generosity of a benevolent and generous government, and of a chief as worthy as you are to fulfil its benevolent intentions.

MARIE NICOLLE LES BOIS.

'St. Louis, May 10, 1803.'

The concession was as follows:——

'St. Louis of Illinois, May 11th, 1803.

'Having seen the foregoing statement, I do grant to Marie Nicolle Les Bois, for her and her heirs, the land which she solicits, in case it is not prejudicial to any person; and the surveyor of this

Upper Louisiana, Don Antonio Soulard, shall put the petitioner in possession of the quantity of land she solicits in the place designated; which, when executed, he shall draw out a plat of survey, delivering the same to the party, with his certificate, in order to serve to her to obtain the concession and title in form from the intendant-general, to whom alone corresponds, by royal order, the distributing and granting of all classes of lands of the royal domain.

CARLOS DEHAULT DELASSUS.'

Of Survey.—Upper Louisiana, District of Sn. Luis de Illinois.

The survey was as follows:——

Note. The bounds set to all corners are shown on the plat.

All the line-trees were marked with one blaze above two notches. The trees on both sides of the lines were blazed only.

Registered in book B, of the surveys for said district, folio 17, No. 20.

Of Certificate of Survey.

'Don Antonio Soulard, surveyor-general of Upper Louisiana,—I do certify that I have measured, run the lines, and bounded, in favor of Marie Nicolle Les Bois, a piece of land of two hundred and forty-four arpents and fifty perches in superficie, measured with the perch of the city of Paris, of eighteen French feet in length, lineal measure of the said city, according to the agrarian measure of this province; which land is situated at about the distance of twenty-five arpents to the southwest of this town of Saint Louis, and is bounded to the north-northwest by lands of Don Santiago Mackay; to the east-southeast by lands belonging to me; to the south-southwest in part by lands of Don Jh. Brazeau, and by vacant lands of the royal domain; and by the west-southwest by vacant lands; which measurement and survey I took without regarding the variation of the needle, which is 70°30' east, as is evident by the foregoing figurative plat, on which are noted the dimensions, directions of the lines and limits, and other boundaries, &c.

'Said survey was executed by virtue of the memorial and decree of the lieutenant-governor and sub-delegate of the royal fisc, Don Carlos Dehault Delassus, dated 11th May, 1803.

'In testimony whereof, I do give the present, with the preceding figurative plat, executed by my exertions on the 27th of May of the current year, in St. Louis, August 20, 1803.

ANTONIO SOULARD, Surveyor-General.

'Truly translated, St. Louis, December 15, 1832.

JULIUS DE MUN.'-

2. Proceedings of the board of commissioners established by the act of Congress passed on the 2d of March, 1805.

Proceedings of Commissioners.

'Friday, October 7th, 1808.

'Board met. Present: The Honorable Clement B. Penrose and Frederick Bates.

'Marie Nicolle Les Bois, claiming two hundred and forty-four and one half arpents of land, situated in the commons of St. Louis, produces to the board a concession from Don Charles Dehault Delassus, lieutenant-governor for the same, dated May 11th, 1803; a plat and certificate of survey, dated 27th May, 1803, and certified 20th August, same year.

'Laid over for decision; board adjourned.

CLEMENT B. PENROSE.

FREDERICK BATES.'

'Wednesday, August 21st, 1811.

'Board met. Present: Clement B. Penrose and Frederick Bates, commissioners.

'Marie Nicolle Les Bois, claiming two hundred and forty-four and one half arpents of land, see book No. 3, p. 282. It is the opinion of this board that this claim ought not to be donfirmed.

'Board adjourned until to-morrow, eight o'clock, A. M.

CLEMENT B. PENROSE.

FREDERICK BATES.'

3. Proceedings of the board of commissioners, established by the acts of July 9, 1832, and March 2, 1833.

'Thursday, November 39, 1832.

'Board met pursuant to adjournment. Present: Lewis F. Linn [and] F. R. Conway, commissioners.

'Marie Nicolle Les Bois, by her legal representatives, claiming two hundred and forty-four and a half arpents of land, see book C, pp. 73, 74, and 75, No. 3, p. 282, No. 5, p. 328, produces a paper, purporting to be an original concession for two hundred and thirteen arpents of land, more or less, from Charles Dehault Delassus, dated 11th of May, 1803; also a paper, purporting to be a plat and certificate of survey for two hundred and forty-four arpents and fifty perches, taken 27th of May, and certified 20th of August, 1803, by Antonio Soulard.

'M. P. Leduc, duly sworn, saith, that the signature to said concession is in the proper handwriting of the said Charles D. Delassus, and the signature to said certificate of survey is in the proper handwriting of said Soulard.

'The board adjourned until to-morrow at ten o'clock, A. M.

L. F. LINN.

F. R. CONWAY.'-

No. 39.

'Tuesday, November 5th, 1833.

'The board met pursuant to adjournment. Present: L. F. Linn, A. G. Harrison, F. R. Conway, commissioners.

'Marie Nicolle Les Bois, claiming two hundred and forty-four and a half arpents of land, see pp. 64 and 65 of this book (No. 6). The board are unanimously of opinion that this claim ought to be confirmed to the said Marie Nicolle Les Bois, or her legal representatives, according to the concession.

'The board adjourned until to-morrow at nine o'clock, A. M.

L. F. LINN.

F. R. CONWAY.

A. G. HARRISON.'

4. The act of Congress, passed on the 4th of July, 1836.

The purport of this act is set forth, under the eighth head of the plaintiff's title, in the case of Mackay v. Dillon.

5. A certificate of the surveyor of the public lands, dated September, 6, 1838.

This certificate is as follows:——

Plat and Certificate of Survey, by Authority of the United States.

'Survey No. 3,184.

'Plat and description of the survey of a tract of two hundred and four arpents and fifty perches, equal to two hundred and eight acres of land, situated in township forty-five, north of the base line, range seven, east of the fifth principal meridian, in the State of Missouri, executed on the twenty-fifth day of September, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, by Charles De Ward, deputy surveyor, under instructions from the surveyor of the public lands in the States of Illinois and Missouri, dated the sixth day of September, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight.

'This being the tract of land granted, on the eleventh day of May, eighteen hundred and three, to Marie Nicolle Les Bois, by Charles Dehault Delassus, then lieutenant-governor, for the government of Spain, of the province of Upper Louisiana, surveyed on the twenty-seventh day of May, eighteen hundred and three, by Antoine Soulard, Spanish surveyor of the...